Building Australias cocoa industryCHOCOLATE IS WORTH $1.4
billion in Australia, and single-originis the fastest growing trend
with-inthisindustry.However,thereareongoingcon-cernsoverglobalcocoasupplyshortages,making
efforts to establish new cocoa industries
crucial.Twentyyearsagoitwasthoughtimpossibleto grow cocoa here in
Australia. It wasn't until the year
2000thattheQueenslandgovernmentapproved the first of a series of
trials to be undertaken in the
DaintreeRainforest,andin2002thefirstcocoa pods were harvested in
Mossman, Queensland.In2010,aftereightyearsofresearch,studies
concludedthatthefoothillsoftheUNESCO heritage-listed Daintree
Rainforest provided the ideal conditions for cocoa to thrive. From
there Australian-madechocolatefromAustralian-grown cocoa was
finally born. Toimproveefficienciesintheindustry,the
Queenslandgovernment,togetherwithitsre-search and development
partners, created a pro-totype for a mechanical cocoa pod splitter.
This machineisestimatedtosplitapproximately
5000cocoapodsperhour.Linkedwithanother
machine,whichseparatesthewetbeansfrom the split pods, the whole
system, once successful, will greatly reduce labour costs.A
fledgling company, Daintree Estates Cocoa, is involved in the study
and further refinement of thetechnology,andtheprototypeiscurrently
undergoing testing and
improvement.Earlierthisyearthecompanyachievedanim-pressive
milestone in the local chocolate industry
whenitfinishedconstructiononits dedicated post-harvest pod
processing facility in Mossman.Post-harvest processing is an
integral part of cre-ating the best flavour precursors in
choco-late. The facility handles pod splitting and
beanextraction,fermentation,drying, roasting, cracking and
winnowing.DaintreeEstatesalsohasasmall-scalechocolate-makingoperation
whererecipedevelopment,conching, tempering and moulding operations
are
tested.Newmachinesforthecocoain-dustryarealsotestedforimprovement
and refinement. The facility provides an
integralstepincreatingandcrafting
Australianchocolateanddevelopingandim-proving current cocoa
processing practices.LAYING THE
GROUNDWORKThefacilityislargelybasedontraditionalcocoa processing
methods practised and refined through trial and error around the
world. From there, Dain-tree Estates has selected and adapted
procedures thatarebestsuitedfortheAustralianenviron-ment. While
some processes are mechanised, oth-ers, such as the fermentation
process, rely greatly on natural chemical reactions imparting
distinct flavour precursors on the cocoa.The cocoa pods take
approximately five to six monthstoripenandmatureonthetree.Once
ripe,thepodsarecarefullyharvestedbythe
farmersandplacedincratestobedeliveredto the post-harvest
facility.Daintree Estates Cocoa is breaking new ground in cocoa
farming and chocolate production in Australia. Elaine Young takes a
look inside the companys post-harvest facility.Food&Drink
BUSINESS|June 2015 16PERFECTINGTHE
PROCESSAlabour-intensiveprocessfol-lows whereby the pods are split
byhandandthebeansarere-moved from the shell. This
pro-cessisundertakenwithintwo days of harvesting.Once all the beans
have been removedfromthepodstheyareplacedinsideporouswoodenboxes
madeofquila.Woodhasgoodinsulatingpropertiesandcanholdthe natural
yeast necessary to trigger the process of
fermentation.Fermentationtriggerschemicalreactions,whichcreateflavourpre-cursorsinthecocoa,eventuallytransformingintobeautifulchocolate
aromas.Ifthisisnotmanagedcarefully,thechocolatewillnothavea good
flavour profile despite the quality of the cocoa beans used. During
thisprocess,thecocoabeansgetanidentity.Theperceptionofcitrus
tonescorrelatetoaciditylevel,andflavoursofberriesandfloralnotes
come from alcohols produced by yeasts during fermentation. These
fla-vour notes affect the final product. Due to seasonal
temperature changes, the challenge is controlling the rate
offermentationtoachieveconsistentresults.DaintreeEstatesisstudying
different processes to maintain consistency in the fermentation
process. Ex-periments on procedures that allow them to control
certain factors are per-formed at the post-harvest facility where
they explore techniques and process-es that are practised in cheese
and wine making that may have parallel results. THE DRYING STAGEThe
next step is the drying of thecocoabeans.Thebeans are dried in a
natural process wherefermentedbeansare laid on steel trays placed
in a purpose-builtshelterand gentlydriedunderthesun, allowing the
remaining acids in the seeds to evaporate and
producealow-acid,high-co-coa flavoured product. The whole process
is dependent on ambient tem-perature and humidity levels, which can
take up to 10 days. The rate of
dryinghasanimportanteffectontheflavourandqualityofthedried beans:
too slow and mould may develop, too fast and oxidative reactions
are not completed thoroughly. Correctly drying the beans reduces
mois-ture content and makes the beans resistant to spoilage. In
high humidity regions, artificial drying methods are used. These
methods, incorrectly performed, can create harsh, smoky aromas that
contaminate the taste of the cocoa beans and inhibit the
evaporation of acetic acid, resulting in beans with a sour flavour
profile.READY FOR ROASTING At this point, the post-harvest process
is finished. However, the next steps in cocoa processing are also
performed in the facility. This first involves
roast-ing.Thisdelicateprocessbuildsontheflavourprecursorscreatedduring
fermentation and drying. The cocoa beans are roasted using a 20kg
drum roaster. Various flavours are awakened due to the effect of
the Maillard reac-tion where hundreds of dif-ferentflavourcompounds
arecreated,whichinturn breakdowntoformyet
morenewflavourcom-pounds,resultinginfla-vour precursors being
con-vertedintorichcaramel and nutty flavour notes.The roasted beans
then gothroughaprocessof winnowingwherethe shells are separated
from the beans. The beans are cracked separating the
nibsfromthehusks.Withmovementandtherightamountofairflow,the lighter
weight husks are separated from the nibs. The nibs are then ground
into cocoa mass along with other ingredients to produce chocolate
where it will go through a process of conching. CREATING A
PASTEConching is the process of grinding the
co-coamassintoveryfinesmoothpaste.The
facilityinMossmanhasasmall-scalepro-duction set-up where conching
is carried out using a nib pregrinding cycle, followed by a
stonegroundmelangercycle.Recipedevel-opment and testing are also
performed on-site. Larger production quantities are sent to
DaintreeEstates'contractedprocessing
chocolaterefiners.Bothtypesofconching produce a final chocolate
that has a particle
sizelessthan18microns,whichthehumantonguecannolongerrecogniseas
gritty. Prolonged conching time gentrifies the flavours in the
chocolate. This is the final stage of flavour development. The
fluid chocolate is then pre-crystallised and moulded into chocolate
blocks or bars. 17June 2015|Food&Drink BUSINESSplant design
& ftoutABOUT THE AUTHORElaine Young is a consulting pastry chef
and chocolatier who provides expert advice and creative input for
pastry and chocolate operations to the hospitality and food
manufacturing industries. She can be contacted at
[email protected].!"#$%#$ '() *+,-+./
totalconstructon.com.au!"#$% 01$#"23"454( )*+,-.